Episode 1.7
Episode 1.7 was the seventh episode in Series 1 of Broadchurch. Plot Alec has flashbacks to a young boy on a beach and a young girl. He awakens in a hospital bed after having a heart arrhythmia during the chase. Ellie is there. She tells him that the doctors told her about his condition and how he'd had a previous attack and checked himself out against medical advice. He tells her he's been sick for about a year and a half and it has gotten worse in the last couple of months. She asks why he took the job knowing he was so sick. He tells her that they're close to finding the killer and asks her to not tell their supervisor. Ellie walks out. Ellie briefs their team, telling them to go through everyone without an alibi or with a weak alibi and to find Susan's dog, Vince. Against medical advice, Hardy checks himself out of hospital and heads back to work. His supervisor informs him that she will be sending him to see the medical officer tomorrow and that he will most likely be relieved of duty. She also asks why he took the job if he knew he was that ill. Ellie questions Susan Wright. She says that in addition to the skateboard, they found cigarettes matching Susan's brand in the sand around Danny's body. At first, Susan denies knowing anything. Ellie threatens to charge her and have her dog put to sleep when found. Reluctantly, Susan says that she was out walking her dog the night of Danny's murder when she saw the body from the cliff top. She made her way down to the beach and looked at Danny's body. Ellie finds it odd that Susan would stand over a dead boy's body and smoke cigarettes and then not tell anyone. Susan says that Danny was "beautiful" and that she knew his body would be found, but that she didn't want to get involved. Ellie pressures Susan to talk about her previous run-in with the law. Susan says that she had two daughters. Her husband was molesting the older daughter. When he tried to do the same to the younger daughter, the older one intervened and he killed her. She claims she didn't know about the abuse until afterwards. When her husband was arrested he accused her of knowing. At the time, Susan was pregnant, and social services took the baby from her, finding her to be an unfit mother. At the Echo, Maggie hears from a source about Hardy's medical problems. She gives Olly the chance to ask Hardy about it. Meanwhile, Hardy meets with Steve Connolly, desperate for any lead. Connolly tells him that Danny knew the killer and that it was someone "close to home". Connolly reminds Hardy that he had told him "she forgives you about the pendant" and he can tell that this means something to him. He also tells him that he saw that Hardy had been here before. Afterwards, Olly meets with Hardy to offer him the chance to explain his situation to them. Beth and Mark meet with Paul Coates for some counseling. She says that they're due for a scan with the new baby but she's not sure if she wants to go through with it. She says that her heart is still full of grief for Danny and that she wishes she had been taken instead. Mark remembers the beautiful, happy girl Beth was when they first met and how Danny's murder has changed this. He says that he wonders if Beth wouldn't have been better off not meeting him. Reverend Coates advises Beth to go get the ultrasound and then make her decision. The Latimers go to the doctor's and seem happy afterwards. Ellie continues to interrogate Susan, saying that there's no way she could have seen Danny's body from the cliff tops. Under pressure, Susan admits to having been walking on the beach. She says she saw a boat, a small one with an outboard motor. A man pulled up to the beach and laid Danny's body there before leaving. She also says she recognized the man. The police bring Nigel in for questioning for Danny's murder. They find Susan Wright's dog chained up in his garden and a gun closet with rifles and his crossbow. Nigel calls Mark and tells him about his arrest and that it's all wrong. Mark advises him to just tell the truth. Hardy interrogates Nigel. At first he claims not to know Susan Wright, but when Hardy tells him that they found her dog in his garden he admits to knowing her. At the same time, Ellie is interrogating Susan. Susan says that Nigel came to her trailer and threatened her with his crossbow because he "didn't like what I was saying" but she claims to forget what she said to have angered Nigel. Hardy pressures Nigel about Danny's murder. He says he wasn't involved in it. Hardy pressures him as to why she would accuse Nigel of dumping the body and Nigel says that it's because she's his mother. Susan says that Nigel is the son who was taken from her 25 years ago. Recently the law had changed and she was able to try to make contact with him, but that when she did, he wanted nothing to do with her. Susan says that she told the police that Nigel did it because he's his father's son and she can't "let it happen again." Pressed for an alibi, Nigel says that the night of the murder, he had driven out to a local estate where he was poaching pheasants. He had run out of petrol and siphoned some from a tractor, then cut a hole in the fence to make it look like a break-in. Hardy gives Nigel a file containing newspaper clippings about Susan's family and her husband's arrest. Nigel reads them and weeps. Ellie yells at Hardy for giving Nigel the file when she had promised Susan that they wouldn't tell him. He tells her that the phone call which had given them the tip about the break in at the cabin was made from Danny's missing mobile phone. They wonder why the killer would call in a tip and then try to escape. He tells Ellie that he's going to have Susan and Nigel released and kept under surveillance, in the hope that something will happen. Just then he gets a phone call and leaves. Hardy meets with Paul Coates, who gives him Tom Miller's smashed laptop. Coates says he was out walking his regular route when he found the boy trying to destroy it. When Hardy asks why Tom would be trying to destroy his best mate's computer, Coates asks if they were best friends. He says that a couple of months ago he had to break up a serious fight between the two boys. He says he had informed both sets of parents and had thought that Ellie would have told him. He also says that Tom threatened to accuse him of abusing Danny if he gave the computer to the police, but denies having done anything inappropriate. When Hardy asks about what he said to Tom at the wake, Coates says he was just trying to comfort the boy. Alec takes the computer and calls a friend to try and get any information off of it. Hardy meets with Olly and Maggie. He tells them that he was injured pursuing a suspect and asks them not to publish this for a few days. Maggie agrees but asks him to tell them about Sandbrook. He tells them that the case against their suspect had been circumstantial until they found a pendant which belonged to one of the victims in a car the suspect owned. One of his Detective Sergeants was taking the evidence back to the police station when she stopped at a hotel for a drink. While inside, her car was broken into and her belongings, including the evidence, were stolen. He says that she was having an affair with another DS and had stopped to celebrate. When Maggie points out that the Herald had reported that it was his car which was broken into he says that he took the heat for her because she was his wife and he didn't want their daughter knowing about the affair. He tells them that if they publish, they should tell the family in the Sandbrook case first and let them know that the case isn't closed. Susan Wright returns home and finds Nigel sitting in her trailer. He tells her that if she doesn't leave within the hour he will kill her dog. She says that if she leaves she will disappear forever and they will never see each other again. He tells her to recant her statement to the police and then leave town. She tells him that he has his father in him and that he was the one she saw. Dean has dinner with Chloe and her parents. He gives Beth a gift as thanks for letting him into their family. It's a doll for the new baby. The gift doesn't go over well with Beth, and Mark confesses that it's "all a bit muddled." To change the topic, Chloe asks about Nigel and Mark says he's had no news. She says it can't be Nigel. Dean agrees, saying that Nigel and Danny really got on well, and that he saw it every time they went out. The family is puzzled by this and Dean explains that Nigel would come by the farm with Danny and that the three of them would go hunting in the evenings. He says that Danny had assured him it was okay, and that Nigel said that they had known. Mark says that they didn't. Hardy tells Miller that the boot prints found at the hut were a man's size ten. Ellie checks and sees that Nigel's shoe size is a ten. They wonder if Susan Wright had told them the truth about Nigel. Hardy says that they're missing something, and suggests that someone else may have been involved. Before sending Ellie home, Hardy asks her about how Tom and Danny were getting along. Ellie denies having heard about the fight which Paul Coates had mentioned. Hardy asks if she can give him a look at her son's laptop and she agrees, annoyed. Susan Wright surveys her trailer and then begins to leave town. Meanwhile, Ellie searches in vain for her son's computer before going to bed. Still at the police station, Hardy receives an email from his friend with the subject line "Tom Miller email transcripts". After perusing the transcripts Hardy says "Of course!" Cast Cast in order of apparance: *Oskar McNamara as Danny Latimer *David Tennant as DI Alec Hardy *Olivia Colman as DS Ellie Miller *Peter De Jersey as SOCO Brian Young *Tracey Childs as CS Elaine Jenkins *Pauline Quirke as Susan Wright *Carolyn Pickles as Maggie Radcliffe *Jonathan Bailey as Olly Stevens *Will Mellor as Steve Connelly *Arthur Darvill as Rev Paul Coates *Andrew Buchan as Mark Latimer *Jodie Whittaker as Beth Latimer *Nadia Willians as Ultrasound Nurse *Joe Sims as Nige Carter *Charlotte Beaumont as Chloe Latimer *Jacob Anderson as Dean Thomas *Adam Wilson as Tom Miller *Matthew Gravelle as Joe Miller *Bailey as Vince (Uncredited) Errors At about 40 minutes into the episode, Alec is seen driving in a car. Although, he is sitting on the left side of the car, and there is no mention made that he is with someone, or that he is a taxi. In Britain, the steering wheel is on the right, so was the car driving itself?